Ferrari issued Massa team order three times(GMM) Felipe Massa received three team orders before he moved over for Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim, it has emerged.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport made the claim, as the controversy about prohibited team orders continues to rage days later in the Hungaroring paddock.

The report said Alonso, who was later heard on the radio to say the situation was "ridiculous", began to complain to the Ferrari pitwall about Massa's pace shortly after his pitstop.

The team replied that it could do nothing, so Spaniard Alonso, who turned 29 on Thursday, dropped back nearly four seconds.

His engineer Andrea Stella told Alonso he was worried about the growing gap, to which Alonso reportedly replied: "No problem, I will close up".

It was this pace relative to leader Massa that moved Ferrari to issue the team order.

But some media have portrayed Alonso as a bully and complainer, suggesting that his reputation has been negatively dented by the affair, which could cost him the support of the spectators.

But he told reporters in Hungary: "Of course it doesn't affect me, not at all. I don't think anything has changed for me or that anything will come back to me.

"Today when I arrived, the airport was full, also the hotel was full of people cheering for us, and these are the fans I saw so far," added Alonso.

He said if the shoe was on the other foot, he would also play the team game.

"If the conditions were the same, with the tires not working correcting etcetera ... I would surely do the same, the team is the most important thing," Alonso said.

Meanwhile, Massa was fending off claims that - particularly in his native Brazil - his reputation is in tatters.

"People believed in him," said Brazilian journalist Livio Oricchio. "He was considered a winner and thousands of fans saw him as a future champion.

"This image is gone," he added.

Domenicali votes 'yes' to scrap team order ban(GMM) Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali has admitted he would like to see formula one overturn its ban on team orders.

Germany's Bild newspaper said the Italian answered with a clear 'yes', adding: "F1 is a team sport."

Currently, article 39.1 of the sporting regulations explicitly prohibits team orders, but the subject is now the topic of hot debate, given Felipe Massa's reluctant move to let Fernando Alonso win the recent German grand prix.

Peter Sauber agrees with Domenicali: "Team orders should be allowed, because in formula one, ultimately the interests of the team are at the fore."

Mercedes' Ross Brawn added: "We understand that the fans are unhappy. But the teams need to work together with the FIA for a solution that takes into account the competition as well as the interests of the team.

Christian Horner's stance against team orders is well known, and Toro Rosso's Franz Tost agrees: "To have a fair sport, team orders must be prohibited."

The bosses and drivers of the British team have been fervently referring to the philosophy of fairness and ethics within McLaren, but others recalled Hockenheim 2008, when Heikki Kovalainen moved over for Lewis Hamilton in much the same way as Massa did for Alonso.

Kovalainen, now driving for Lotus, did not want to talk about that incident in Hungary.

"I don't remember that," said the Finn. "For me, there's no point in going into the past, actually. I'm just here to race with Lotus and that's all I can say."

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